BPHC Launches "I Bike" Campaign

BPHC Launches "I Bike" Campaign

Campaign promotes accessible biking and active living throughout the city.

BOSTON - Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) today announced the official summer launch of a new campaign to encourage active living and safe transportation.  The "I Bike" campaign will feature Boston residents alongside their bikes and share their reasons for biking. The residents featured in the campaign live in Allston/Brighton, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Roxbury.   "For both youth and adults to gain the physical activity benefits from bicycling, it is critical to inform them about active living options in their communities, particularly those neighborhoods outside of downtown Boston," said BPHC Executive Director Monica Valdes Lupi, JD, MPH.  "I'm excited that the I Bike campaign showcases seven Bostonians from diverse neighborhoods and tells why they bike. Their  different reasons, from getting to work to spending time with their kids or discovering the city, help to promote biking not only as a means of transportation, but as a fun and healthy social activity."   In September 2014, BPHC was one of 50 communities awarded a three-year cooperative agreement award from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) to implement Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH), a national effort to reduce the prevalence of obesity, tobacco use and exposure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. PICH supports the implementation of evidence-based voluntary policy and systems changes that encourage healthy choices in physical activity, nutrition and smoke-free housing.   In its first year, BPHC rebranded PICH as "Let's Get Healthy, Boston!" (LGHB) a name that speaks to the project's goals. LGHB is a partnership with the Boston Alliance for Community Health, which supports ten organizations with trained Healthy Community Champions - neighborhood residents who do grassroots advocacy for healthy choices.   The campaign is also a partnership with the Boston Transportation Department's Boston Bikes program.  Campaign ads point residents to BostonBikes.org for additional information about safe bicycling, where to get a bike repaired, learn-to-ride classes, bike maps and more.  Through this collaboration, LGHB is also supporting educational and outreach efforts to expand use of subsidized Hubway bike-share memberships, make bikes and helmets available to low-income residents ("Roll It Forward") and support neighborhood-based active transportation projects run by the Healthy Community Champions in their neighborhoods. The #iBike campaign, the latest phase of a three-year plan to promote active living, officially launches on June 1 and runs through the summer. Healthy Community Champions will be holding neighborhood events with safe and fun bicycling opportunities.   Boston residents will see the campaign highlighted in billboards, bus shelters, MBTA bus ads, and posters around the city.  Residents are encouraged to share their reasons for biking on social media by tagging @healthyboston and using the hashtag #IBikeBOS.

AG’S OFFICE CITES WORCESTER RESTAURANT $11,000 FOR WAGE AND HOUR VIOLATIONS

AG’S OFFICE CITES WORCESTER RESTAURANT $11,000 FOR WAGE AND HOUR VIOLATIONS

            BOSTON – A Worcester restaurant and its owner have been cited more than $11,000 for failing to comply with state wage and hour laws, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

            J.P. Alliance, Inc. d/b/a Shangri-La and its president, Xinchun Jiang, were cited for failure to make timely payment of wages, failure to furnish a suitable paystub, failure to pay minimum wage, failure to keep true and accurate records, violating the tip payment statute and failure to furnish records for inspection.

“Employers must comply with our wage and hour laws if they want to do business in Massachusetts,” AG Healey said. “Low-wage workers often live paycheck to paycheck, and wage theft threatens the well-being of them and their families. Our office will continue to advocate on behalf of exploited workers and do all we can to ensure they are treated fairly.”  

The AG’s Office started an investigation after receiving two complaints alleging that employees of the restaurant were not paid wages owed to them and that their rates of pay fell below the state mandated minimum wage.

Upon investigation, the AG’s Office discovered that the company was not keeping the appropriate records, not furnishing paystubs and was paying its employees on a monthly basis. In addition, the owner and his wife, who was also a manager, were illegally retaining tips that should have been distributed to the service staff. The AG’s Office ordered Jiang and his business to pay more than $6,000 in restitution to their workers and nearly $5,000 in penalties.

The current minimum wage in Massachusetts is $10 per hour and it will go up to $11 per hour in 2017. Most workers in Massachusetts must be paid weekly or biweekly. Managers may not retain any portion of tips, even if they provide some service to customers. The maximum penalty that may be assessed for a subsequent violation is $25,000.

This case serves as an example of AG Healey’s enhanced efforts to hold accountable businesses that disregard Massachusetts wage and hour laws. The AG’s Office enforces the laws regulating the payment of wages, including prevailing wage, minimum wage and overtime laws. Workers who believe that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to call the Office’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465. More information about the state's wage and hour laws is also available in multiple languages at the Attorney General's Workplace Rights websitewww.massworkrights.com.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Amy Goyer and Investigator Erin MacKenzie of the AG’s Fair Labor Division.

BCNC Awarded $100,000 Cummings Foundation Grant

BCNC Awarded $100,000 Cummings Foundation Grant

 

BOSTON, May 31, 2016 – Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) is one of 100 nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “$100K for 100” program. BCNC was chosen from a total of 479 applicants, during a competitive review process.

BCNC responds to community needs by delivering holistic, family-centered, and culturally competent programs. BCNC believes families have enormous potential to thrive, and when immigrants are able to participate fully in society and create their own success stories, all of society benefits. With this grant, BCNC will strengthen and empower immigrant families and individuals from the Greater Boston area through case management, parent training, education and support groups.

BCNC Executive Director, Giles Li said, “On behalf of the community we serve at BCNC, I am truly thankful to the Cummings Foundation for this grant that will allow BCNC to enhance our family-centered approach and move closer to fulfilling our vision of supporting families to be strong, healthy, and safe.”

The $100K for 100 program supports nonprofits that are not only based in but also primarily serve Middlesex, Essex and Suffolk counties. This year, the program is benefitting 41 different cities and towns within the Commonwealth.

BCNC Executive Director, Giles Li will be joining approximately 300 other guests at a June 9 reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $140 million to local nonprofits alone.

Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages more than 10 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.

“We admire and very much appreciate the important work that nonprofit organizations like BCNC are doing in the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s Executive Director. “We are delighted to support their efforts.”

The complete list of 100 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

2016 Fort Point Channel Watersheet Activation Grants Announced

2016 Fort Point Channel Watersheet Activation Grants Announced

BOSTON – The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), in conjunction with the Fort Point Channel Operations Board (FPCOB), has awarded six grants totaling $40,000 to art, education, and community groups with plans for activating the Fort Point Watersheet for the 2016 season. 

Grant applicants were asked to submit project ideas that would develop creative water-based programming around the edges of the channel or construct capital improvements within the channel. 

“This year’s grant recipients have plans to enhance the Fort Point area with a number of exciting initiatives and installations,” said Brian Golden, Director of the BRA. “We’re really looking forward to seeing these ideas come to life.”
 
2016 Winning Projects:

Floating Urban Garden MandalaApplicants: Artists for Humanity and Conducive, Inc.Award: $5,000

Artists for Humanity, a non-profit that employs Boston-area youth to create artwork for local businesses, institutions, and the public, and Conducive, Inc., a firm that utilizes innovative urban design and real estate to focus on building ecosystem services in urban neighborhoods, have together proposed a floating garden mandala to both engage the public in and educate it of urban ecology and its restorative properties.

Brown Box Season of Free Theater with Enhanced Audience ExperienceApplicant: Brown Box Theatre ProjectAward: $10,000

Brown Box Theatre Project’s professional, high-quality, and free performances will return to the Fort Point Channel for the fourth year with both indoor and outdoor performances, including Cymbeline. In addition, risers will accommodate larger audiences to improve views, ensuring that more attendees are able to easily enjoy this unique cultural experience.

BSA Space Sidewalk ActivationApplicant: BSA FoundationAward: $5,000

The BSA Space plans to launch a design ideas competition to activate their storefront and sidewalk that will help animate the urban waterfront and draw visitors to and from the waterfront with an enhanced public realm. The competition will begin in winter 2017 and a winner will be selected in spring 2017.

Discovering Fort Point Channel: A Science and Art Exploration of the Beings and Beauty of the WaterfrontApplicant: “e”, Inc.Award: $5,000

Previous grantee “e” inc. will return with its six-week marine science education program at Atlantic Wharf on Fort Point Channel this July and August. Youth from various urban summer camps and social service centers will be able to enjoy hands-on science lessons and experience rowing in Boston Harbor. 

Permanent & Dynamic: Floating Public ArtApplicant: Fort Point Arts CommunityAward: $5,000

The Fort Point Arts Community will bring more floating art to the Fort Point Channel, following prior successes of “Tropical Fort Point” and “Who Wears Wool,” the latter of which was also funded by the Fort Point Channel Operations Board.

Fort Point Channel Lunchtime Livery and Home Waters ProgramsApplicant: Hull Lifesaving MuseumAward: $10,000

For the fifth year, the Fort Point Lunchtime Livery Program will give community members and tourists alike the opportunity to rent row boats on the Fort Point Channel. Home Waters Program offers an experiential education program for more than 300 Boston-area youth and adults from every single neighborhood in the city.

About the Fort Point Watersheet Activation Plan

The grant program is part of the Fort Point Watersheet Activation Plan, established in 2002 by the Mayor's Office and the Boston Redevelopment Authority to spearhead a vision for a “Boston Common on the water.” The Plan, which proposed new cultural activities and year round programming, resulted from a successful collaborative effort between the City, landowners, nonprofit and cultural leaders, and residents. The Fort Point Channel Watersheet Activation Grant Program is funded by the Chapter 91 Waterways Regulations License for Atlantic Wharf, developed by Boston Properties.

About the Boston Redevelopment Authority

As the City of Boston’s urban planning and economic development agency, the BRA works in partnership with the community to plan Boston's future while respecting its past. The agency’s passionate and knowledgeable staff guides physical, social, and economic change in Boston’s neighborhoods and its downtown to shape a more prosperous, resilient, and vibrant city for all. The BRA also prepares residents for new opportunities through employment training, human services and job creation. Learn more at www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org, and follow us on Twitter @BostonRedevelop.

Boston Public Schools Launch Executive Coaching Program to Recruit and Boost Retention Among Women of Color

Boston Public Schools Launch Executive Coaching Program to Recruit and Boost Retention Among Women of Color

Boston, MA - Thursday, June 2, 2016 - The Boston Public Schools today announced the launch of the BPS Women Educators of Color (WEOC) Executive Coaching Program, a 4-semester (15 months) accredited program designed to increase engagement, retention and leadership rates for female staff of color within Boston Public Schools. "Leadership in our school system should reflect the people of Boston," said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "I commend Boston Public Schools for implementing a program that aims to remove barriers that still exist in the workplace. We must continue to ensure that diversity is our main goal, structurally, within the hiring and recruitment process." Building on the successful 2014 launch of the Male Educators of Color Executive Coaching Program (MEOC), now on its second cohort, the WEOC program will guide participants to focus on key levers of effective educational leadership and also support the development of innovative, research-based solutions to key problems of practice. "The Committee remains focused on diversity and inclusion efforts throughout the district," said Boston School Committee Chairman Michael O'Neill. "A diverse workforce results in more positive outcomes for our children, and I have faith that this program will prove to be successful."   The Office of Human Capital (OHC) diversity programs are designed to support the district's investment in human capital by enabling the district to recruit, retain and promote a workforce that is reflective of the racial, cultural and linguistic diversity of Boston Public School students. "We are thankful to the partners that helped to support this program," said Superintendent Dr. Tommy Chang. "When our workforce is representative of our students' cultures and ethnic backgrounds, our students can see themselves being future educators, doctors, lawyers, artists and more. We're pleased to make this investment in our district's future because it reflects our values and goals as a school system." OHC operates by using two strategies: workforce pipeline development (both internal and external) and workforce retention to cultivate and retain the district's diverse and talented workforce. The program runs from May 2016 to June 2017; classes will be held one Saturday morning per month in addition to monthly small group gatherings. Participants will receive 1) executive leadership coaching, 2) small group peer support and upon successful completion of the program, 3) executive leadership certificate, and 4) graduate level course credits. "We are pleased to partner with the Boston Public Schools on pathways to administrative leadership for educators-of-color," said University of Massachusetts Boston's Director of Educational Administration Jack Leonard. "Our satellite graduate programs in Educational Administration with BPS have drawn over 150 inquiries in 15 months. We are confident that the new Women Educators of Color Executive Coaching Program will open even more doors for under-represented candidates in school leadership." Participants will receive a valuable combination of executive coaching, research-based content as well as a natural balance between self-reflection and peer interactions. Our new leadership initiative supports a network of women of color focused on collaborating to succeed. The core curriculum includes: Leadership Development Graduate Course Organizational Change Graduate Course Course Practicum & Executive Coaching Problem of Practice Research Design Participants contribute by attending all sessions, completing all assigned coursework, and developing a problem of practice presentation, as well as pay for graduate degree credits upon successful completion of the program. Each WEOC session is led and facilitated by current and former women leaders of color from the Boston Public Schools or certified instructors sponsored by the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Twenty women educators of color who are currently in school-based and central office staff roles were accepted to the program. A minimum three years of experience in BPS was required for consideration.

波士頓僑教中心將換屆 郭大文返國 歐宏偉接任

紐英崙中華公所謹訂於六月廿六日下午六時假座華埠龍鳳酒樓聯合全僑歡送僑教中心郭大文主任囘國及歡迎歐宏偉主任重掌僑教中心。

餐費每桌三百二十五元。報者請聯絡中華公所鄺坤珍 617-542-2574, 或僑教中心張小慧 617-965-8801，或中華總㑹余麗瑛 617-938-8688

敬請踴躍參加

Asian Community host reception for Leland Cheung for State Senator

Wanted to invite you to a reception supporting State Senate candidate, Leland Cheung (Cambridge City Councilor) as he campaigns for the MA Senate's 2nd Middlesex District seat - which represents parts Cambridge, Somerville, Medford and portions of Winchester.

Leland is serving his fourth term on Cambridge's council, recently running for Lieutenant Governor in 2014 - where he ran a highly competitive campaign, securing a coveted endorsement by the Boston Globe.

Now, Leland has set his sights on the MA Senate (2nd Middlesex District), where his priorities will include completing the Green Line extension, fair & affordable housing, early education, and supporting an innovation economy.

Please join us for an event supporting his endeavor.  

Here are event details:

- When: Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 (5:30-7:30pm)

- Where: China Pearl Restaurant (9 Tyler St., Boston)

- Event Hosts (committee still in formation): Nick Chau, Leverett Wing, Emily Yu

- Donate & RSVP: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/lcforstatesenate

Thanks, and we hope to see you next Tuesday!